“We seldom look up to the person; we usually look up to their persona,” Mokokoma Mokhonoana, a philosopher and author, sums up almost every character in the book Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. To be more specific, the quote epitomizes Karl Brandt. Karl struggles with being himself all throughout the novel while going through pain and loss. Krueger uses his unique writing style to depict all the varying types of conflict and difference Karl experiences in Ordinary Grace. Society contributes to this struggle much like can be seen in the world today.
First and foremost, Karl endures being the only child of Axel and Julia Brandt. The Brandt’s are the silent rulers of New Bremen that lead by example and through money. As the richest …show more content…
The town not being able to cope with someone different then themselves, is the reason Karl died. William Kent Krueger does not overly dramatize the town’s reaction to finding out his secret. He doesn’t use magniloquent wording when describing Karl’s death. The author abruptly states how Karl kills himself, using only factual wording. This rhetoric emphasizes the concept that Karl’s death is not poetic, nor is it admissible that the town pushed him to this outcome. Krueger knows that the differences New Bremen could not overcome, are what torn their town apart. These foregoing separations are what tears families and towns apart today.
William Kent Krueger demonstrates the differing versions of conflict and difference Karl Brandt goes through in his book Ordinary Grace through wording and rhetoric. Each sentence is crafted with the mindset of making the reader connect and empathize. The New Bremen community is a microcosm of the 21st century. Society will batter and break a person down, but people can learn from their mistakes. Stories from the sixties similar to Ordinary Grace can be the basis for a new start, where differences unite people rather than divide
First and foremost, Karl endures being the only child of Axel and Julia Brandt. The Brandt’s are the silent rulers of New Bremen that lead by example and through money. As the richest …show more content…
The town not being able to cope with someone different then themselves, is the reason Karl died. William Kent Krueger does not overly dramatize the town’s reaction to finding out his secret. He doesn’t use magniloquent wording when describing Karl’s death. The author abruptly states how Karl kills himself, using only factual wording. This rhetoric emphasizes the concept that Karl’s death is not poetic, nor is it admissible that the town pushed him to this outcome. Krueger knows that the differences New Bremen could not overcome, are what torn their town apart. These foregoing separations are what tears families and towns apart today.
William Kent Krueger demonstrates the differing versions of conflict and difference Karl Brandt goes through in his book Ordinary Grace through wording and rhetoric. Each sentence is crafted with the mindset of making the reader connect and empathize. The New Bremen community is a microcosm of the 21st century. Society will batter and break a person down, but people can learn from their mistakes. Stories from the sixties similar to Ordinary Grace can be the basis for a new start, where differences unite people rather than divide